Pick the Oscars Contest!

Kinsey and I decided to throw together a quick Oscar contest before the show rolls around on Sunday. Basically you just send us your picks by email or leave them in the comments section (if you're brave), and the winner will receive a fabulous used DVD of the Saturn Award winning film, Jumanji.

Here are the nominees along with our picks for who will win and who should win.

Best Picture:

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

Will win: The Hurt Locker
Should win: The Hurt Locker

Best Director:

Avatar - James Cameron

The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow

Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino

Precious - Lee Daniels

Up in the Air - Jason Reitman

Will win: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Should win: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

Colin Firth - A Single Man

Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Morgan Freeman - Invictus

George Clooney - Up in the Air

Will win: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Should win: Colin Firth - A Single Man

Best Actress:

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Helen Mirren - The Last Station

Will win: Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Should win: Carey Mulligan - An Education

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon - Invictus

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger

Christopher Plummer - The Last Station

Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones

Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Will win: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Should win: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz - Nine

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air

Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air

Mo'Nique - Precious

Will win: Mo'Nique - Precious
Should win: Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air

Animated Feature Film:

Coraline

Up

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and the Frog

The Secret of Kells

Will win: Up

Should win: Up or Fantastic Mr. Fox

Original Screenplay:

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Up

Will win: Inglourious Basterds

Should win: Up

Adapted Screenplay:

District 9

An Education

In the Loop

Precious

Up in the Air

Will win: Up in the Air

Should win: In the Loop

And the most anticipated category of all...

Sound Mixing:

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Will win: The Hurt Locker

Should win: The Hurt Locker

Tiebreaker:

Which film will win the most Academy Awards?

Commenting on the 2009 Oscar nominations...

Best Picture:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

So the big thing this year is the 10 movies up for best picture. I think its a good thing just given that UP made best picture, hopefully this means that just because a movie is animated is won't be shunted to the Best Animated Film category alone. Of course this does allow in movies such as The Blind Side. Wade said that if this wins he will be boycotting the Oscars from now on. I'm just upset because we always see the films up for Best Picture, and I really didn't want to see this.

I don't have any big issues with the nominated films that I've seen. It's a nice mix of small film and crowdpleasers. Definitely pulling for The Hurt Locker, although as long as its not Avatar or The Blind Side, I'll be OK.

Best Director:

James Cameron - Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Precious - Lee Daniels
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman

My vote would be for Kathryn Bigelow or Jason Reitman. I disagree with the nom for James Cameron, but it was expected.

Got to be Kathryn Bigelow here. I really hope its not James Cameron just so I don't have to listen to that blowhard give a speech.

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

I haven't seen Invictus yet, but I really want Colin Firth to win this. I love him and he was amazing in A Single Man. The buzz is that Jeff Bridges is a lock, but I didn't think his performance was especially amazing.

I don't think Jeff Bridges and, from what I've heard, Morgan Freeman should be here. There are probably more deserving performances out there. Go Jeremy Renner.

Best Actress:

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Not to be a snob, but Sandra Bullock? Seriously?!! Carey Mulligan was great in An Education, but we need to quite a few in this category. Congrats to Meryl Streep though on her 16th nomination. While I didn't especially love Julie & Julia, her performance was fantastic; I loved every minute she was on screen.

Here's hoping for a 2002 style split vote between Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock, with Carey Mulligan in the Adrien Brody role as surprise winner.

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

We have a lot of work to do before March 7th...

This is probably Christoph Waltz's to lose. My main issue is who didn't get nominated, i.e. Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker or Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia, not The Lovely Bones or Alfred Molina in An Education or, heck, even Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated. And yes, I am judging some of these films before I've seen them.

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious

I really disagree with both the nomination of Maggie Gyllenhaal (nothing special in her role/performance) and Anna Kendrick. Throughout Up in the Air, I though Anna Kendrick was the weakest player and her performance pulled me out of the film repeatedly.

Not much to say about this one, other than Vera Farmiga was probably my favorite here. It would've been really awesome to see either Melanie Laurent or Diane Kruger from Inglourious Basterds here, but what are you goin' to do?

Yay for Oscars!! Let hope those who deserve it win...